Teen dating violence is defined as “a pattern of abuse or threat of abuse against teenaged dating partners, occurring in different forms, including verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and digital.”Relationship violence among teenagers is increasingly common, with some researchers reporting that one in ten high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
This abuse begins early, often before the age of eighteen or in early adulthood, as more than half of women (69.5%) and men (53.6%) who have been physically or sexually abused, or stalked by a dating partner, first experienced abuse between the ages of 11-24.
Emotional: Humiliating the victim in front of friends or making the victim feel guilty when she confronts the abuser about the abuse.
Intimidation: Making the victim fearful by using threatening behavior, abuse of animals, verbal aggression or destruction of property.
More girls reported perpetrating physical dating violence than boys (34 percent vs. In addition, 64 percent of girls and 45 percent of boys reported perpetrating verbal emotional abuse toward a dating partner. Nearly one in four girls and one in seven boys reported being victims of sexual coercion in a teen dating relationship. NIJ-funded research has also examined the prevalence of dating violence among a national sample of Latino adolescents. Abusers attempt to control their partners in a variety of ways.The following is a list of common controlling behaviors: Isolation: Trying to cut off the victim's relationship with family and friends; using jealousy to justify behavior.Forms of abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional and psychological.Victims and abusers come from all social and economic backgrounds, faith communities, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Both females and males can be victims of dating violence, but numerous studies reveal the reality that the majority of victims are females (usually more than 95 percent).